Republican US Sen. Rand Paul introduced a bill on Wednesday that would immediately halt American aid to the Palestinian Authority, US media reported. The Associated Press reported that the bill would cut aid until the Palestinian Authority withdraws its bid to join the International Criminal Court to pursue war-crimes charges against Israel.

"We are currently sending roughly $400 million of U.S. taxpayer dollars to the Palestinian Authority," Paul said, according to the AP. "Certainly, groups that threaten Israel cannot be allies of the U.S. I will continue to do everything in my power to make sure this president and this Congress stop treating Israel's enemies as American allies."

After Ynet reveals recording of events leading up to and following death of Hadar Goldin during Gaza operation's 'Black Friday', Ya'alon says 'decisions taken during event were operational, not criminal.'Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon rejected calls to allow the IDF's military police to investigate the events surrounding 'Black Friday' – an August 1st incident in which 2nd. Lt. Hadar Goldin was killed and captured by the Hamas in Rafah, leading the IDF to implement its controversial Hannibal Protocol.The incident also saw over 130 Palestinians killed as the IDF launched a massive offensive to retrieve the soldier, later found dead. “Many rumors are being floated around about the incident concerning the Givati Brigade on that Friday in Rafah. That incident is not being investigated by the IDF's Internal Criminal Investigation unit.

"This is an operational incident in which different decisions were taken, this is not something that should be investigated according to criminal law. It should be investigated by the military command,” Ya’alon said during an IDF event in honor of elite IDF commander Emmanuel Moreno. Hadar Goldin's father, Simcha was also present at the event.

Ya'alon stressed the difference between a criminal and operational military investigation, saying that the former "looks for those responsible" in a attempt to attribute blame for past criminal events, and does not focus on military decisions. Ya'alon's comments came after Ynet obtained footage which has never before been or seen heard of the events of August 1st, which has become known as Black Friday.IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz also responded to the recordings, saying that "the IDF is not a reality show. There are a lot of stories being published about Givati… everyone should know the commanders are the best there are." Gantz backed the Givati commander, saying "it is unacceptable that recordings from a military operation are published. I have faith in the commanders… (but) if there were mistakes we will deal with them." Four months after Sec.-Lt. Hadar Goldin was captured (and later killed) during Operation Protective Edge, and only days ahead of the Chief Military Prosecutor's decision on whether to launch a criminal investigation into the conduct of the IDF officers who led the pursuit after the captive soldier in Rafah, audio recordings from the IDF's communication system obtained by Ynet shed light on the dramatic moments of that fateful Friday morning.

In those critical hours – from the moment of the encounter which led to Sec.-Lt. Goldin's capturing at 9:16am and until midday – the IDF implemented the Hannibal Directive which states that at the time of a capture of an IDF soldier the main mission becomes ending the kidnapping - even if that means injury to Israeli soldiers, including the one captured.

The Hannibal Directive allows commanders to take whatever action is necessary to prevent a situation where Israel is forced to negotiate with captors, including endangering the life of a captured soldier, to foil the capture. The commanders in charge of the operation, who could be targeted by a military police investigation, were Lieutenant Colonel Eli Gino (commander of Givati's reconnaissance company) and Colonel Ofer Vinter (Givati Brigade's commander).So far, military police investigations have been launched into the deaths of some 50 Palestinian civilians. The inquiries will examine whether negligence or rash decision-making on the part of the commanders led to those casualties. Gantz told Ynet that none of the cases investigated (until the Jewish holidays) had found evidence that forces operated maliciously. In the current case, Lt. Col. Gino is heard repeatedly ordering his forces to "stop shooting."

The Arab Center for Communication and Solidarity announced the intention to hold the “International forum for justice in Palestine” in coordination with many Arab and Muslim forums, unions, and organizations on 22-23 February, 2015. The head of the Beirut-based Center Maen Beshur told Quds Press that the conference’s preparatory committee agreed on three axes to be discussed during the event. They include the Israeli racism, Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity, and finally Israeli longstanding assassination crimes, which have been admitted by some Zionist leaders.

The conference will also discuss the methods and procedures to prosecute the Israeli war criminals, Beshur added.

He said that the conference is a continuation to the Center’s activities since its inception in 2007. The activities started with a conference on the Palestinian refugees’ right of return held in coordination with al-Quds International Institution, Beshur said.

In a statement posted on the UN's treaty website Tuesday night, United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, said: "The statute will enter into force for the State of Palestine on April 1, 2015."

On Monday, ICC registrar Herman von Herbel confirmed that the body has received documents by Palestine declaring its acceptance of the body's jurisdiction, the Palestinian News Network (PNN) reports.

This paves the way for the court's investigation of Israeli crimes committed during the recent war on Gaza which killed over 2,000 people, mostly from the civilian population.

When Palestine accedes to the Rome Statute, the Hague-based court would be able to prosecute Israeli officials for crimes they have committed, over the past months, in Gaza and the West Bank.

The ICC started its work in early July of 2002, when the Rome Statute entered into force as the foundational and governing document. Currently, there are 122 states, which are party to the Rome Statute and, thus, members of the ICC.

The United States and Israel, along with Sudan, have said that they no longer intend to become states parties and, therefore, have no legal obligations arising from their former representatives' signature of the Statute.

Israel and the US are extremely angry about Palestine's attempt to join the ICC, with US officials calling the move "counter-productive". Israel has also halted the transfer of more than USD 120 million in taxes belonging to the Palestinians, in retaliation for their application to join the ICC, and have vowed collective punishment, Press TV also reported.

By Alex WhitingThere has been considerable speculation about how the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the International Criminal Court (ICC) might react to the State of Palestine's move to join the ICC. Some have suggested that the OTP will jump at the chance to do a case outside of Africa. Others believe that the Prosecutor will move more cautiously. Since I worked as the Investigations Coordinator and then Prosecution Coordinator in the OTP for nearly three years, I will offer my insights into how I think the OTP might proceed in this case.First, I have to imagine that the OTP is a little surprised by the vehement reactions to the Palestinians' move to join the ICC. The Court already has 122 States Parties, including many close allies of the United States. The Court embodies principles that have been embraced by the U.S., even if at times unevenly, throughout its history (before Nuremberg, at Nuremberg, and since Nuremberg). Although the U.S. initially took a very hostile stance towards the ICC, at the end of the Bush administration and throughout the Obama administration it has engaged constructively with the Court and has allowed two situations (Sudan and Libya) to be referred to the ICC and has voted to refer a third situation, Syria, as well. There have been no serious accusations that the ICC has pursued political or frivolous cases, as some feared when the Rome Statute was adopted. Further, as many have pointed out, the move by the Palestinians is double-edged: by joining the Court and extending jurisdiction retroactively to the war in Gaza, the Palestinians are accepting that the Court may investigate and prosecute individuals on the Palestinian side for war crimes or crimes against humanity. Kevin Jon Heller has even suggested that the ICC might start by prosecuting members of Hamas. For all of these reasons, I am sure that people within the ICC are wondering why the Palestinian decision to join is not being celebrated rather than denounced.whitingThere is also likely surprise within the OTP because in the months leading up to the Palestinian move, the OTP suffered some setbacks in its cases, including the collapse of the Kenyatta case and the Prosecutor's announcement that she is suspending further investigation in Sudan because of the lack of any action by the UN to enforce the Court's arrest warrants. These events caused some to question whether the ICC as an institution can be effective or relevant, particularly when it comes to prosecuting senior state officials. The Washington Post even declared the ICC to be on "shaky ground." In light of these assessments, one might have expected that Israel and its allies would greet the Palestinian embrace of the ICC with a shrug. But the strong reactions to the Palestinian move to join the Court show something else: that the ICC still matters. A lot. Although the ICC can prosecute only a small number of cases and so far it has had mixed results, states seem to care enormously about the potential reputational and diplomatic consequences if they become the subject of an ICC investigation. As Mark Kersten has explained, the same concerns caused North Korea (a country that often thumbs its nose at the international community) to unleash a diplomatic offensive to dissuade the Security Council from referring North Korean crimes to the ICC.So going forward, how will the OTP manage cases referred by the State of Palestine? The Prosecutor has made it clear that in her view, the question of whether Palestine qualifies as a State allowing it to sign the Rome Statute was settled by the General Assembly's 2012 decision to grant non-member observer state status to Palestine. Therefore, the Prosecutor will likely soon be faced with two potential investigations arising from Palestine's decision to join the Court: the first into alleged war crimes committed by either side during last year's fighting in and around Gaza and the second into Israeli settlements in the Occupied Territory to see if they constitute a violation of Article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute which makes it a crime in an international armed conflict for an "Occupying Power" to "transfer, directly or indirectly, . . . parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies." The first potential investigation would arise from Palestine's declaration pursuant to Article 12(3) of the Statute accepting retroactive jurisdiction back into last year, while the second would arise from Palestine's decision to join the Court (and therefore will not arise for another 60 days when the Statute enters into force in Palestine pursuant to Article 126 of the Statute). In both cases, a potential investigation has to be triggered, either by a State (including Palestine), or by the Prosecutor herself (which then requires approval from the Pre-Trial Chamber of the Court). Statements by the Palestinian Ambassador to the UN make it clear that Palestine intends to ask (and may have already requested for Gaza) that both investigations be pursued.I agree with both David Luban and David Bosco that the OTP will proceed cautiously and deliberately in both cases. There is absolutely no chance that the Office will jump on this opportunity simply as a way to do a case outside of Africa. The Prosecutor and other senior officials in the Office do not think that way, and if they were so motivated they could have long ago opened investigations in other places, such as Georgia, Afghanistan, or Ukraine.The Office will likely quickly open preliminary examinations into both cases, a step that precedes the opening of an actual investigation, but as outlined in its "Policy Paper on Preliminary Examinations," that process is involved and deliberate and requires the Office to assess, on the basis of information that is either publicly available or submitted to the Court, whether there is a "reasonable basis" to believe that the alleged crimes fall within the jurisdiction of the Court and are admissible (meaning they aren't already being investigated or prosecuted by a national jurisdiction and are sufficiently grave to warrant ICC investigation or prosecution), and whether there are substantial reasons to believe that an investigation would not be in the interests of justice. With respect to both potential investigations, there are issues that will likely require extensive information gathering and deliberation and therefore it will take months and more likely years before the OTP decides whether to open an actual investigation.Regarding the potential Gaza investigation, the OTP will want to determine whether investigations by Israel might be sufficient to account for alleged crimes committed on the Israeli side and whether there is any chance that Palestine will investigate and prosecute cases on its side. If Israel and Palestine undertake genuine investigations and prosecutions of alleged crimes on each of their respective sides, then the ICC will no longer have jurisdiction under Article 17 of the Statute. There is precedent for the OTP giving parties considerable time to pursue cases. In the case of Georgia, the OTP has had a preliminary investigation open since 2008, monitoring both sides to see if either will bring forward investigations and prosecutions. As the OTP reported in December 2014, neither Georgia nor Russia has brought forward an actual prosecution during the six years of the ICC's preliminary investigation.Regarding the potential settlements case, the Court will want to consider arguments from both sides about the Court's jurisdiction in the Occupied Territory (as discussed by David Luban in his Just Security post and debated by Eugene Kontorovich and Yaël Ronen in the Journal of International Criminal Justice). These issues are novel and will require time to resolve.Aside from the specific legal issues that will require deliberation in both potential investigations, the OTP will likely adopt a cautious and slow approach to all cases arising from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not because they are politically sensitive, but because critical support for its work on these cases is far from assured. The principal lesson to be drawn from the ICC's first decade plus of work, and in fact from the success and failures of all of the ad-hoc tribunals established since 1993 (the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia), is that international criminal investigations and prosecutions will succeed only if there is sustained support either within the country where the cases arose or from the international community at large. This insight was behind the ICC Prosecutor's recent decision to hibernate the Sudan investigations. Sudan's complete lack of cooperation, and years of refusals by the Security Council and key countries in the region to support the ICC's cases, meant zero progress on the ICC's investigations and arrest warrants. In making her announcement on Sudan, the Prosecutor simply recognized this reality and moved to focus her limited resources on cases that are more likely to move forward and succeed. This pragmatism has also likely contributed to the OTP's extended preliminary examinations in places like Georgia and Afghanistan.But while the OTP is pragmatic, it is not only pragmatic. There is a strong (and proper) adherence to principle within the Office. Difficult cases constantly require the Prosecutor to strike hard and nuanced balances between these competing impulses: pragmatism to use resources wisely and build the capacity and strength of the institution slowly over time, and principle to apply the law and the rules consistently and uniformly. I have no doubt that the challenges of the cases arising out of the Israeli-Palestinian will cause the OTP to move slowly and cautiously, and the Office will likely stay at the preliminary examination phase for a number of years. But that pragmatism will not last forever, and eventually, if there is a reasonable basis to believe that crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court may have been committed and the allegations have not been investigated or prosecuted by one side or the other, the ICC will be compelled to move forward and commence its own investigation. Where that leads will raise many new questions.Alex Whiting is a Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School where he teaches, writes and consults on domestic and international criminal prosecution issues. From 2010 until 2013, he was in the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague where he served first as the Investigations Coordinator, overseeing all of the investigations in the office, and then as Prosecutions Coordinator, overseeing all of the office's ongoing prosecutions.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has announced Monday that they have received a document lodged, under article 12 (3) of the ICC Rome Statute, by the Palestinian government declaring Palestine's acceptance of the jurisdiction of the ICC since 13 June 2014.Acceptance of the ICC's jurisdiction differs from an act of accession to the Rome Statute, the Court's founding treaty, the ICC's statement said.

On 2 January 2015, Palestine transmitted to the United Nations documents relating to its accession to the Rome Statute as well as other treaties.

The ICC is an independent, permanent court that tries individuals accused of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

Acceptance of the ICC's jurisdiction does not automatically trigger an investigation. It is for the ICC Prosecutor to establish whether the Rome Statute criteria for opening an investigation are met and, where required, to request authorization from ICC Judges.

On July 2014, Israel carried out a 51-day bloody offensive against the besieged strip of Gaza, killing more than two thousands of people mostly children and injuring 11 thousand others.

Under the sounds of the Israeli bombardment and shelling on Gaza Strip in the summer of 2014, an Israeli soldier approached a 74-year-old Palestinian woman, Ghalya Abu-Rida, to give her a sip of water. He gave her the water and took a photo with her. He, then, shot her in the head from a one-meter distance to end her life as a martyr after watching her bleed to death.This is how Ahmad Qdeh, a journalist in Al-Aqsa T.V., described the scene that he witnessed during the latest Israeli aggression and still remembers its details. The spokesman of the Israeli army, Avichay Adraee, shared the photo of an Israeli soldier holding the water bottle and helping the old woman drink as an example of the “humanity” of the Israeli army towards the civilians in the Gaza Strip.

The field executions were among the stories Qdeh reported during the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip. He said, “Ghalya Ahmad Abu-Rida lived in Khuza’ area in the east of Khan Younis city. I live in that area, too, and I made a television report on her story after the Israeli soldiers had executed her during the aggression.”

“During the aggression, an Israeli soldier approached the old woman Abu-Rida and took a photo for another soldier while giving her water. They then executed her by shooting her in the head from a one-meter distance and let her bleed until she died,” he added.

Ghalya Abu-Rida was born in 1941. She lived by herself in a separate room near her brothers’ houses in Abu-Rida neighborhood in Khuza’ area. She had no children. Her neighborhood was of the first places invaded by the Israeli army during the aggression.

Field Execution:

Majed Abu-Rida, Ghalya’s nephew, confirmed to the media that his aunt was suffering from vision impairment and could hardly see. He said that the Israeli army that is falsely claiming humanity executed his aunt in cold blood.

The old woman Ghalya with her weak body and white hair refused to leave her house after the Israeli army had threatened the residents of Khuza’ to evacuate. She thought that her old age would protect her from any targeting, so she stayed at her home and refused to join the majority of the residents who left the area as the invasion began.

On August 3, 2014, the Israeli forces announced a truce and allowed the medical staffs to reach Khuza’ area. Ghalya was found dead after she bled to death as she was shot in the head near her house. Her brother confirmed that the photo shared by the Israeli army supported the family’s belief that Ghalya was in the hands of the Israeli army. The family also believed that the area in which Ghalya appeared in the photo and in which she was found asserted that the Israeli forces killed her after taking the photo for the media.

Misinformation:

Professor of media at the universities of Gaza, Ahmad Al-Farra, believed that “the photo the Israeli army spokesman shared is a misleading propaganda of the Israeli army to present a humane portrait of its soldiers. It can enhance the opportunity to pursue the Israeli army soldiers as war criminals before the International Criminal Court.”

“This photo proves the confusion of the Israeli army spokesman in defending his army. It proves that they killed civilians,” he added.

He continued, “The Israeli occupation lies and misinforms in an attempt to affect the international public opinion. It exploits the default of the Arab media and the Palestinian diplomacy in exposing the Israeli occupation crimes.” He demanded launching a large campaign to employ these facts to expose the Israeli lies and falsifications.

Al-Farra assured the need for a media enlightenment campaign to go side by side with the field battles to correct the false image that Israel presents about its army and the image of the resistance.

The Palestinian Information Center would like to point out that publishing the photo of Ghalya Abu-Rida while an Israeli soldier was giving her water before killing her in cold blood is a proof that her death matches the witnesses’ accounts about the Israeli army’s field execution of civilians. This refutes the misleading Israeli propaganda that the Palestinian civilian victims were only killed by mistake.

In 51 days of aggression, the Israeli occupation forces brutally massacred 2200 Palestinians, most of whom were civilians.

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin speaks in Jerusalem on Nov. 30, 2014Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said, Monday, that he opposed a freeze in the transfer of taxes to the Palestinians in response to their application to join the International Criminal Court. "Freezing taxes can be useful neither for Israel nor for the Palestinians," Rivlin told ambassadors accredited to Israel in a speech.

In his speech, a copy of which was reviewed by AFP, Rivlin said that President Mahmoud Abbas "continues to reject direct negotiations and tries to impose a deal by force", adding that such an approach "warrants sanctions."

Israel on Saturday delayed the transfer of $127 million it collects on behalf of the Palestinians in retaliation for the Palestinian move to join the ICC and press war crimes charges.

The tax revenues make up two thirds of the Palestinian Authority's annual budget, excluding foreign aid.

"Sanctions against the PA should be in line with Israeli interests, and a tax freeze is not," Rivlin said.

Monday's statements are not the first criticisms against the Israeli state to come from Rivilin.

This past October, at a conference entitled “From Xenophobia to Accepting the Other”, the Israeli president was quoted to say: “It is time to honestly admit that Israeli society is ill – and it is our duty to treat this disease.”

“The tension between Jews and Arabs within the State of Israel has risen to record heights, and the relationship between all parties has reached a new low,” he said.

“We have all witnessed the shocking sequence of incidents and violence taking place by both sides. The epidemic of violence is not limited to one sector or another, it permeates every area and doesn’t skip any arena. There is violence in soccer stadiums as well as in the academia. There is violence in the social media and in everyday discourse, in hospitals and in schools.”

News of the president's concern failed to make international headlines, however.

Recent American legislation states that, if Palestinians initiate any action against Israel at the International Criminal Court, the State Department would have to stop US aid to the PA. According to the PNN, after freezing the transfer of tax revenues to the Palestinian Authority, Israel is taking additional steps to punish the PA for its request to join the ICC.

A senior Israeli official said, on Sunday, that Jerusalem would be contacting pro-Israel members of US Congress to ensure the enforcement of the recently passed legislation. The stop-gap funding bill was passed in Congress last month, Haaretz reported.

Both houses of the new Congress, to be seated later this month, will be controlled by the Republican Party, with many key positions filled by senators and representatives who are pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian. The legislation regarding Palestinians initiating action at the ICC is strongly worded and states that President Barack Obama cannot waive a decision to halt aid to the PA.

US aid to the PA comes to some $400 million annually, and administration is concerned about the ramifications of halting this financial assistance, as it is liable to make it impossible for the PA to pay the salaries of tens of thousands of employees.

Although Arab states have promised to provide the PA with a financial security net, US officials believe that, as in the past, Arab states won't deliver as promised, and will not work to keep the PA afloat.

Earlier Sunday, Foreign Ministry Director-General Nissim Ben Sheetrit said that Israel's response to the Palestinian bid at the ICC would be much harsher and more comprehensive than just freezing the PA's tax revenues. Ben Sheetrit made the remarks at a conference, held in Jerusalem, for Israel's envoys to Europe.

Sheetrit says, however, that unlike in the past, Israel will not launch a wave of settlement construction in response to the Palestinian moves. He also added that Israel had no interest in undermining security cooperation with the PA or to cause its collapse.

The security cabinet is expected to meet later in the week to decide on the new measures.

The first case Palestine will refer to the International Criminal Court will be the crimes Israel committed during the summer of 2014, including the Gaza war, a legal expert said Sunday.On Jan. 2, Palestine presented a formal request to join the Hague-based court in a move which opens the way for it to file suit against Israeli officials for alleged war crimes in the occupied territories.

The ICC can prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed since July 1, 2002, when the court's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, came into force.

If the application process goes as planned, Palestine should be able to refer a case in early April, with legal preparations to that end already well under way.

Shawan Jabarin, director of the Ramallah-based rights group al-Haq, said Palestine had decided to file a suit over Israel's actions in the West Bank and Gaza Strip starting from June 13, 2014.

That was the date Israel began a massive crackdown in the West Bank after the kidnapping and subsequent murder of three Israeli teenagers, triggering a series of events which led to the seven-week Gaza war that killed over 2,300 Palestinians and 73 people on the Israeli side, mostly soldiers.

Cases referred to the ICC need "a very specific geographic location and timeframe," Jabarin told AFP, saying the same date had been selected by a UN commission probing alleged rights violations during the Gaza war and the period leading up to it.

Following the teens' kidnap on June 12, Israel began its biggest sweep of the occupied territories in years, arresting more than 2,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

On June 30, troops found the bodies of the three, unleashing a wave of national grief and anger that saw Jewish extremists murder an East Jerusalem teenager in revenge, which itself triggered furious protests in the eastern Palestinian sector of the city.

Rocket fire from Gaza also increased as a result of the operation, which quickly escalated into all-out war which lasted 50 days.

At the same time, the unrest in East Jerusalem continued unabated until late in the year, and included a number of lone-wolf attacks on Israelis.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat confirmed Gaza would be one of the cases referred to the court, but also said there would be a file put together on Israeli settlement building on land seized during the 1967 Six-Day War.

"The main files will be the aggression against Gaza and the settlement file, since this is a continuous crime," Erakat said on Sunday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said, Sunday, that PA President Mahmoud Abbas' bid to join the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) would only expose him and other Palestinian officials to prosecution over their support for what he called "militant Islamist groups", PNN reports.

"We will take steps in response and defend Israel's soldiers," Netanyahu was quoted to say by Reuters.

Palestinian Ambassador to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, delivered documents to the United Nations headquarters, Friday, to become a signatory to 22 international treaties, including the ICC, in the hope of pursuing war-crimes charges and achieving "justice for all the victims that have been killed by Israel, the occupying power," Reuters reported.

It takes 90 days to join the ICC, which looks at cases of severe war crimes and crimes against humanity, such as genocide, according to Haaretz. Abbas signed the documents Wednesday, one day after the UN Security Council rejected a Palestinian resolution demanding statehood and for Israel to withdrawal from its territory.

Also on sunday, Netanyahu vowed to deny Palestinians in their efforts to "drag IDF soldiers and commanders to the International Criminal Court in The Hague," according to the Jerusalem Post.

"The Palestinian Authority has chosen confrontation with the state of Israel, and we will not sit with folded hands," Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. "Those who need to answer before a criminal court are the heads of the Palestinian Authority, who have forged an alliance with the war criminals of Hamas.

"IDF soldiers will continue to defend the State of Israel with determination and might," the premier said. "Just as they defend us, we will protect them with that same determination and the same might."

Netanyahu's comments at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting was his first comment on Jerusalem's decision to freeze the transfer of NIS 500 million to the Palestinian Authority in response to the PA's decision to join the International Criminal Court.

Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to decline the Palestinian request to join it and pledged to protect Israeli soldiers from any overseas prosecution.

"We expect the ICC to reject the hypocritical request by the Palestinian Authority, which is not a state but an entity linked to a terrorist organization," he said in a statement on Thursday, referring to Hamas.

"The state of Israel is a lawful country with a moral army that enforces all international law," he claimed.

Netanyahu's statement came one day after Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas signed a document at a meeting in Ramallah requesting membership of 20 International treaties and organizations, including the ICC.

Abbas signed the documents in response to the UN Security Council's vote on Wednesday against a Palestinian plea calling for ending the Israeli occupation by late 2017.

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat on Thursday handed over the membership applications to the UN coordinator for humanitarian affairs, James Rowley, at Ramallah’s presidential headquarters.

The US administration and the Israeli government had repeatedly warned the Palestinian Authority of serious political implications if it decided to go on with its stated intention to join UN organizations and the ICC.

The Palestinian delegation to the UN said it deferred the submission of applications signed up by president Mahmoud Abbas for membership in international organizations and treaties until Friday without providing clarification on its decision.

According to al-Jazeera Net on Thursday, the Palestinian mission to the UN did not provide any explanation for its decision to postpone the submission of the signed papers to the office of the UN secretary-general or the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.Earlier, the Palestinian Authority (PA) had said that its ambassador to the UN Riyadh Mansour would submit on Wednesday all papers to the concerned organizations.

In reaction to the UN Security Council's Wednesday vote against the Palestinian statehood bid, Abbas immediately signed up papers to join 20 international organizations and treaties, including the Rome statute of the ICC.

Abbas had warned that if the UN resolution failed, he would resume efforts to join international organizations to pressure Israel to end its violations in the occupied territories.

Joining the ICC would enable the PA to file complaints against Israel and hold it accountable for war crimes and violations against the Palestinians, especially in Gaza.

The Hamas Movement welcomed the signing of the Rome statute by president Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday, describing it as a step in the right direction.

In a press release, Hamas said the step should be followed by other moves, which include decisions to halt all forms of negotiations and security cooperation with the Israeli occupation.

The Movement also called on the Palestinian Authority leadership to take steps towards Gaza by working on lifting its blockade, reconstructing it, achieving occupational justice for all civil servants, and enabling the Palestinian legislative council to assume its duties.

For his part, senior Hamas official Salah al-Bardawil also blessed the move and called for immediately convening the provisional leadership framework of the Palestine liberation organization (PLO) to develop a comprehensive plan to confront the occupation.

He also stressed the need for halting all kinds of media incitement against Gaza and the Palestinian resistance, and accepting the concept of political partnership.

The Rome Statue was among some 20 international agreements signed by Abbas during a meeting held on Wednesday evening in Ramallah in response to the UN Security Council's rejection of a Palestinian-Arab draft resolution demanding an end to the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories by late 2017.

Signing up to the statute is seen as the first move to joining the international criminal court.

PA President and Fateh member Mahmoud Abbas, Wednesday, signed a formal request for Palestine to join the International Criminal Court (ICC), following a failed UN resolution for ending the Israeli occupation.

Tuesday's vote at the United Nations Security Council came after a three-month Palestinian campaign to win support for the resolution.

The resolution, if passed, would have set a 12-month deadline for Israel to reach a final peace deal with the Palestinians and called for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian territories by the end of 2017.

Jailed Fateh leader Marwan Barghouhti criticized the text of the resolution before its submission, urging Palestinian leadership to reword the proposal.

The Israeli state hailed the rejection as a victory, saying that it dealt a blow to Palestinian efforts to diplomatically "embarrass and isolate" Israel.

China, France, and Russia voted in favor, while the United States and Australia voted against.

Abstentions included Britain, Rwanda, Nigeria, Lithuania and South Korea.

The ICC can prosecute individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, AFP further notes, and Palestinian plans to become a party to the court have been fervently opposed by both Israel and the United States.

Palestinian leadership hopes that ICC membership will pave the way for war crimes prosecutions against Israeli officials for their actions in the occupied territories.

Israel, however, asserts that "Palestinian crimes" would be exposed to the judgement of the Hague-based court, should the bid succeed.

Islamic-based political party Hamas signed a proposal for Palestinian membership at the ICC, this past August, and is holding Abbas accountable for promises to cut PA security cooperation.Abbas applies for membership in 20 international treaties including ICCPalestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday evening signed applications for Palestinian membership in 20 international organizations and treaties, including the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Abbas’s move came in response to the failure of the Palestinian statehood resolution at the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

Earlier, Abbas said that he was determined to pursue his efforts to achieve a Palestinian state despite the failure at the Security Council.

Referring to the decision to join the ICC, Abbas said, “We want to file a complaint against Israel. We are being attacked. Our lands are being attacked every day. Who are we going to complain to? The Security Council has let us down. There’s an international organization and we’re going to it to complain.”

Speaking to Fatah supporters Wednesday afternoon at a rally in Ramallah marking Fatah's 50th inception anniversary, Abbas said: “The Security Council is not the end of the world. Last night’s session was not the end of the journey. We have something to say about this as of tonight. We and our children will continue until we arrive at Jerusalem, the capital of the Palestinian state.”

Earlier, on Tuesday evening, the UN Security Council rejected a Palestinian resolution calling for an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories by 2017.

The statehood bid failed to muster the minimum nine "yes" votes required to pass in the council.

The motion received eight "yes" votes, from China, France, Russia, Argentina, Chad, Chile, Jordan, and Luxembourg. Two member states - US and Australia – opposed while the five other members - UK, Lithuania, Nigeria, Korea, and Rwanda – abstained.